Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1887-12-24
REFORM IN CHAIRS.
How the Conservatism of q Trade Don't
Pay in These DAYS.

How the Conservatism of a Trade Don't
Pay in These DAYS.
The average mechanic is good deal
of a machine He has learned his trade
in youth in a certain way, tools were
put in his hands, and he was told what
he was to do with them. After he grows
up his inclination is to do nothing
with them that he was not instructed to
do as boy.
There is a conservatism, therefore, in
our domestic surroundings which is at
times unreasonable. A suggestion to a
carpenter, a plumber, or even an odd
jobber," however obvious and consonant
with conceded facts, is not usually re-
ceived with good humor, and is almost
certain to be contemptuously ignored
We see the same thing in manufac-
lures. Granting all that may be claimed
in favor of American inventiveness, the
fact remains that in the making of many
articles of daily use there is surprising
disregard of fundamental principles.
We scorn to consider the case of the
flimsy "ornamentap' chairs found in some
parlors, which land the confiding sitter
promptly on the floor, amidst their fra
gile fragments. Even in the constitution
of the honest and capable chair, whose
standing in society is assured, there are
defects tending to impair that perfect re-
spect and confidence which a candid
mind would fain cherish for character
apparently 80 perfect.
1t Is not that it's legs are unsteady;
they may be relied on to support any
reasonable weight Nor are it's arms
rickety, nor is its seat too yielding, nor
are its backbones deficient in stamina.
In these particulars there are thousands
of chairs in this and any other large
city of perfectly unimpeachable in
tegrity. But the Objectionable feature
about them all is the want of harmony
between their anatomy and one of the
crying and chronic needs of the human
system.
The spinal column of man will sus-
tain an erect position, as a matter of
mere duty, for an indefinite period. But
duty is not pleasure to a spinal column,
however intense may be the delight it
brings to well-regulated conscience. 1t
is not even comfort to the normal verte
brg. What spine requires for its per
feet enjoyment is position of recline-
not necessarily of prostration, but sim
ply of inclination, and inclination back
ward.
The moral needs no elaborate elucida-
ton. All chairs should not be expected
to possess the luxury of rockers. But
any chair in decent circumstances may
reasonably be called upon to haveit hind
legs two inches shorter than its forelegs.
By this means, sitter may rest his back
at proper and congenial angle. The
benefit of sitting down will be many
times enhanced, as well as the pleasure of
it. And we shall secure consistency as
it were between the chair and the man,
an adaptability of means to ends which
is truly scientific, and therefore, truly
beautiful.
What has been said about the conser-
vatism of manufacturers and mechanics
shows that years must elapse before we
can expect this great reform of shorten
ing the hind-legs of chairs to be adopted
in the factories But, meantime, any
resolute man, with small saw and
reckless Indifference to his wife's opin-
ions, can avail himself of her absence at
the matinee to introduce it into his own
parlor If any caitff tremblings seize
his heart, let him think of Balaclava and
Arnold Winkelried, and saw on. All
great advances in civilization need heroes
for their inception. The blood of
martyrs is the seed of the curch.